


it's hard to have intercourse over four sets of corsets

by dysprositos



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Clothing as Marker of Loss of Status, Corsetry, Gen, Historical Inaccuracy, Humiliation, Implied Transactional Sex, Jonah Magnus's A+ Fundraising Decisions, Legal Unpersonhood, Posture Control, Punitive Corsetry, criminal justice system
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:47:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25041112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dysprositos/pseuds/dysprositos
Summary: if i have to write a fic about True Facts About England's Criminal Justice System of That Era I Made Up Just Now in order for you to feel comfortable publishing jonah magnus fic of dubious historical accuracy, that is a grenade i will swallow or whatever it is you do with grenades
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	it's hard to have intercourse over four sets of corsets

**Author's Note:**

  * For [forsyte](https://archiveofourown.org/users/forsyte/gifts).



He was above the constable who arrested him. He was above the prosecutor who came to talk to him about some sort of _arrangement_ , representative of the Crown or no. And he didn’t even need to open his mouth for the judge to abruptly decide that he didn’t like his sneer, his insouciant posture, his attitude that he was too good for to be tried, to be in this courtroom, to stand charges for drunk and disorderly conduct like a common sailor found too rowdy on shore leave.

What, really, could they do to him? Clap him in irons? Deport him overseas? Put him in the stocks? Or issue a fine he could pay with ease and a stern warning and send him on his way? Jonah couldn’t think of a punishment that wouldn’t be either completely toothless or else an overreaction that would see the judge censured, sacked, and possibly killed by Jonah’s peers. (No love lost among some of them, but shared class meant that certain standards of treatment had to be upheld.)

The judge had no such failure of imagination. Punitive corsetry was almost never done outside of boarding schools and officer’s academies, but it was an option for the criminal justice system as well, and when so imposed it carried with it a number of unpleasant restrictions and even more unpleasant implications. No more could Jonah dare speak so rudely to a common constable, secure in his power and in the man’s obligations toward him—should he be so unfortunate as to encounter one without his guardian as chaperon. The law and its agents no longer had obligation to him; for the duration of his sentence, he was entirely at the mercy of the society he had transgressed against. An incentive to learn prettier manners, the judge had said, while the corsets would restrain him, and ensure decent posture, until he learned restraint and decency himself.

It is, Jonah reminds himself as he looks at himself in the mirror, a _gentleman’s_ corset. A mark of disgrace for that gentleman, to be sure, but not, whatever certain parties may jeer later when the last course and the ladies have been cleared and the men are deep in their cups, a mark of _femininity_. The law overlooks treatment of corset-condemned men that it never would of a lady. Besides, the disgrace of a woman is irrevocable. When the sentence is over, when he can move back out and own his own property again, when he can once again leave his quarters for public appearances without first suffering a servant to lace up his stays, Jonah will resume his previous social status in all respects in the eyes of the law. Which is why he continues to make these public appearances at all, when he (if not his patron) would prefer he spent the year in the privacy of these four walls. He has contractual obligations to meet, if he doesn’t want all this to be for nothing.

He reminds himself that he _very much_ does not want all this to be for nothing. Still, the thought crosses his mind, as he opens the door, that it would be easier to calm himself if he could _simply take deep breaths_.

**Author's Note:**

> Did Jon promising to “be more lovely” prompt Elias to purchase a bespoke historically-accurate gentleman’s corset that can be found in his office, if you know where to look? Did Jon read the statement of Hazel Rutter with suspiciously good posture, and find himself also wishing he could take deep breaths before he opened the door? I’m not saying no.


End file.
